title: Mass spectrometry-based holistic analytical approaches for metabolite profiling in systems biology studies.
abstract: Metabonomics and metabolomics represent one of the three major platforms in systems biology. To perform metabolomics it is necessary to generate comprehensive "global" metabolite profiles from complex samples, for example, biological fluids or tissue extracts. Analytical technologies based on mass spectrometry (MS), and in particular on liquid chromatography-MS (LC-MS), have become a major tool providing a significant source of global metabolite profiling data. In the present review we describe and compare the utility of the different analytical strategies and technologies used for MS-based metabolomics with a particular focus on LC-MS. Both the advantages offered by the technology and also the challenges and limitations that need to be addressed for the successful application of LC-MS in metabolite analysis are described. Data treatment and approaches resulting in the detection and identification of biomarkers are considered. Special emphasis is given to validation issues, instrument stability, and QA/quality control (QC) procedures.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece. gtheodor@chem.auth.gr.
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Theodoridis
authors.forename: Helen G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Gika
authors.forename: Ian D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D016208:Databases, Factual; D017022:Flow Injection Analysis; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D055442:Metabolome; D055432:Metabolomics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011786:Quality Control; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D049490:Systems Biology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D054928:Validation Studies as Topic
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers